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Subscribe to get the daily Bible reading in your inbox. Each day someone will be journaling on the reading. The challenge is to read the word daily. We also want to encourage you to post your own journal entry in the comments. Interested in how this got started? Learn more.

Did you have any meaningful conversations?

While traveling for work this week I had the opportunity to spend time with a lot of people; some whom I had previously met, and some new faces as well. One of the evenings Amy sent a text to me that read: “Did you have any meaningful conversations?” While Amy has stated that she doesn’t ever plan to author a Bible Journal post, she sure does her part in using the gifts she’s been given. She asks good questions, focuses on her strengths, and has inspired much of my writing.

Strikingly, Amy’s question correlated with one of today’s verses:

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:5-6)

The question and the verse forced me to reflect on the many recent conversations I’d been part of.

Did I go into the conversation seeking a win for me or for others?

Were my words and actions reflective of a Christ follower?

Did I focus on small talk or did I engage the unique human being I was blessed to be able to spend time with?

Was my heart right at the beginning of the day with the prayer to seek God’s will, not mine?

Reflecting on “salt” in our conversation immediately leads me to the words of Jesus from The Sermon on the Mount: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” (Matthew 5:13).

In my heart, I don’t seek meaningless conversation, so why do I do it?

This week wouldn’t be deemed as “total failure”, however I could have done A LOT better, and the bottom line was selfishness. Fortunately I’m acutely aware of this selfishness through the act of prayerfully writing this post, and I’ll take awareness over ignorance any day. This gives me an opportunity to repent as well as consider how I’ll do better next time. Perhaps my Bible Journal should be renamed to Bible Journey.

To close on a lighter note… Amy spent hours this week making a cheesecake for my birthday and she forgot a key ingredient. The salt. No joke, but guess what? It still tasted amazing (plenty of salt in cream cheese) and better yet I felt loved because of her hard work; what a great treat to come home to. Thanks Amy!